This invention relates to a seat and, more especially, this invention relates to a seat for absorbing a force. The seat may absorb a force from, for example, a blast from a mine, or a crash from an aeroplane or a helicopter.
Vehicles travelling in areas of conflict throughout the world are often subject to mine blasts. The conflicts may be wars or simply acts of terrorism. The vehicles may be military vehicles or civilian vehicles. The mines may be properly constructed mines of the type used by armies, or the mines may be improvised explosive devices of the type used by terrorists. Irrespective of the type of vehicle or the type of mine, people travelling in vehicles which are blown up by mines often suffer loss of life or severe injuries including loss of limbs and/or spinal damage. An initial blast from a mine will act upwardly and may blow a vehicle upwardly and into the air. A second damaging force acts downwardly and occurs when the vehicle strikes the ground after having been blown upwardly into the air. This second force is sometimes referred to as a slam-down force.
Aeroplanes and helicopters rarely crash, but nevertheless crashes do happen. The downward force during a crash is unusually substantial but there are occurrences, especially with helicopters, when the downwards force is not so great that all occupants are killed. In this case, the occupants may suffer serious injuries due to the downward force of the crash.